Bundaberg residents are bracing as major flooding from the Burnett River continues, with a peak of 7.6 metres expected today.
The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts the river peak will reach the city, about a four-hour drive north of Brisbane, on Wednesday morning.
Flooding increased above 7.3m this morning, according to the latest river height recordings from the weather bureau.
Floodwaters are rising at Targo Street in Central Bundaberg. (ABC News: Tayla Larsen)
Authorities say the peak is expected to affect 280 homes and 120 businesses in the city of about 100,000 people, which were at risk of flooding.
It said a second peak moving through the river system upstream could result in renewed rises at the towns of Mundubbera and Gayndah, but it was unlikely to result in rises past Paradise Dam, just upstream of Bundaberg.
Flooding in East Bundaberg. (ABC News: Nikki Sorbello)
Queensland’s Wide Bay, Burnett and Gladstone regions received some of the heaviest rain in recent days with up to 250 millimetres falling in some areas, delivering Bundaberg’s highest flood level in more than a decade.
Bundaberg faces new flood
Bundaberg Regional Mayor, Helen Blackburn, said crews had knocked on the doors of almost 300 homes and more than 100 businesses at risk of having water over their floor level if the river reached the forecast 7.6m peak today.
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The Tallon Bridge and Burnett River Bridge have closed and a “leave immediately” notice was issued on Tuesday for people in Bundaberg North, South, Central and East.
Bundaberg District Disaster Coordinator Chief Inspector Grant Marcus said it was not yet clear how long the water would take to recede.
“The Bureau of Meteorology … is suggesting it could be around a 36- to 48-hour period of time,” he said.
“Experience has told us that often it’s not that long, it can happen quicker.”
State Emergency Service Bundaberg local controller Kieran Galey said it was impossible to know the impact of the rising river until Wednesday morning.
Flooding in Bundaberg on Tuesday. (Supplied: Brock Catasti from Ray White Bundaberg)
“As those waters start to recede, we’re going to start getting a clearer picture of who has been impacted,” he said.
“We’ll be getting our SES crews into those properties to help them with that clean-up process and any hose-outs that are required.”
Mr Galey said a “very big, significant amount” of people had left their homes for either refuge centres, or to the homes of family and friends as waters rose.
Ben Rawlins says this is the third time since 2011 that he has experienced emergency flood warnings amid rising floodwater. (ABC News: James C Taylor)
Ben Rawlins, from North Bundaberg, was among those who left their home for safety.
It was the third time he had been evacuated from his home in the past decade, and this time he was prepared with an air mattress.
“They’re expecting about 50 people, and at the moment there’s about 100 from what I heard last, so not quite sure exactly sure how things are going to go yet, but time will only tell,” Mr Rawlins said.
In the North Burnett, about 200 kilometres upstream of Bundaberg, attention is turning to recovery as floodwater recedes.
Two homes were inundated in Mundubbera and one in Gayndah, and Deputy Mayor Melinda Jones said authorities were preparing to assess the damage.
“We haven’t been able to get to all of our road network across the region to see how that’s faring because there’s still water lying across the region,” she said.
SES Bundaberg local controller Kieran Galey said calls for help were “quiet” overnight and praised the community for being well prepared.
He said his main focus today would be helping people with sandbags, before assessing the damage as floodwater recedes.
Flood warnings
Flood warnings continue to cover huge parts of Queensland, but the weather bureau expects many river heights will fall over coming days.
Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Dean Narramore said the main areas of concern were still the Wide Bay and Burnett District, northern parts of the Darling Downs, Tiaro, Windorah, Chinchilla, Richmond, Augathella, and Bundaberg.
BOM’s flood warnings throughout Queensland for Tuesday. (Supplied: The Bureau of Meteorology)
“We have seen major flooding on the Warrego River, the Dawson River, the Burnett River, the Mary River downstream of Gympie, as well as the many other rivers, peaks and streams there as well,” he said.
There were major flood warnings in place for Don and Dee Rivers, the Burnett River, Charleys Creek, Stuart and Boyne Rivers, Barker and Barambah Creeks, Mary River, Dawson River, Baffle Creek, Burrum and Cherwell Rivers, Warrego River, Flinders River, Thomson River, Georgina River and Cooper and Eyre Creek.
The corner of Porter St and Warton St at Gayndah. (Supplied: Jaslynne Noffke)
There were moderate to minor warnings for parts of the Brisbane River, upstream of Wivenhoe Dam, and the Noosa River.
Mr Narramore said it could take days for flooding to ease across inland parts of the south-east and parts of the Wide Bay, Burnett, and Capricornia, as the water makes its way slowly downstream.
But he said the weather systems that brought widespread flooding had cleared offshore leaving just a few coastal showers for parts of south-east Queensland.
An eel washed up on the road at Kin Kin, in the Noosa region, on Tuesday morning. (Supplied: Sharon Cawley)
Roads closed, livestock lost
Hundreds of roads across the state have been cut by floodwater or left damaged, and nine schools have closed.
Authorities estimate that more than 1,000 head of livestock have been lost, there has been significant damage to crops, and more than 1,000 properties have lost power.
Paradise Dam reached 200 per cent capacity late yesterday, and was spilling over.
Kidd Bridge sign nearly submerged by flooding at Gympie. (Supplied: Gympie Regional Council)
On the Fraser Coast, flooding on the Mary River dropped below 5m overnight.
“We do not expect to see any inundation of houses or businesses that are not right on the river,” Fraser Coast Mayor George Seymour said.
Further south, the Tiaro Water Treatment Plant has closed, and the towns of Cracow, Theodore and Baralaba have remained mostly isolated.
Flooding at Bundaberg was expected to peak on Tuesday night. (Supplied: Brock Catasti from Ray White Bundaberg.)
Banana Shire Mayor Nev Ferrier told residents to stay home unless necessary.
The township of Agnes Water in the Gladstone region was also cut off by flooded roads.
Rain to ease
The weather bureau is forecasting isolated coastal showers through south-east Queensland, but most of the wet weather would be confined to the central part of the state.
Mr Narramore said Mackay and Mount Isa could expect showers and thunderstorms, with some heavier falls along the north tropical coast and the Peninsula District and Gulf Coast.
Flooding at East Bundaberg as warnings continue. (ABC News: Nikki Sorbello)
A monsoon trough in North Queensland was expected to bring steady rainfall to the Gulf and Northern regions later in the week.
Otherwise, Mr Narramore said much of Queensland could expect dry and sunny weather.
“We’re seeing rain and storms across far northern Queensland but thankfully [for] western, central, southern, and south-eastern Queensland, rain and storms have all cleared now,” he said.
“That’s going to continue for the coming days as well as we enter a drier stretch of weather for the rest of the week and possibly even into the weekend.”